Page 103 of Vulnerate

Holy shit. I want to be her when I grow up even though she’s younger than me.

Val sits in the chair the opposite side of Viktor’s friend and stretches out like an arrogant shit. Tapping the other boys shoulder, I try to smileand put him at ease but he’s staring at everyone wide eyed. The poor kid was just helping his friend and ended up in the middle of all of the Vartanov crazy.

The car issilent as we drop Max home and the tension rises as soon as he gets out. Val isn’t shouting or even angry, but Viktor stares out of the window deep in thought. Val stops outside an ice cream parlor and looks in the back with a wide smile.

“Cone or a cup, little man?”

This day is getting weirder. Getting Viktor’s answer, he stops himself moving towards me and quickly gets out the car.

A little head pokes between the seats and Viktor’s voice is quiet but I feel guilty. “Why didn’t you say you’re not my mom?”

Fuck. I fucked up, I only heard the dumb twat call him an animal and couldn’t react to anything else. Kids learn what they see and I’m the adult, so I apologize.

“I’m sorry, I was angry at what she said and didn’t think.”

He laughs it away and mocks my form. “You’re supposed to plant your feet and you held your arm too tight. Was it the first time you ever punched someone?”

My hand is still throbbing, but Viktor’s laughs ease the pain. He’s busting a gut when Val comes back holding two cones and a plastic bag. Passing us our ice cream to congratulate us both on a successful first fight, he picks my hand up and turns it so he can place the ice directly on my knuckles. He takes out two cubes and wraps them in a napkin before passing them back to Viktor.

“Put it on your cheek, it shouldn’t swell but just in case.”

Such a heartwarming weird as fuck family.

Holding my cone out to Val in offering, he scrunches his nose up and refuses impolitely.

“No, you’re fucked up and like cherry.”

Both father and son say in sync, “It’s medicine.”

Cherry is the best flavor; they can stick with whatever nastiness they picked. Turning to Viktor, in the back he has chocolate sauce around his mouth and ice cubes on his face.

“Oh yeah, what did you pick then?”

He’s Val’s double with the smug smile on his face giving his answer. “Cookies and crème, you don’t have ice cream without chocolate. It’s wrong.”

I’m arguing with a child about ice cream flavors, but I will die on this hill. “It tastes like dirt. Cherries are a fruit at least.”

This feels like family, Val’s hand gently strokes my numb hand as he drives, and I stay in the heated debate about which flavor is best. We’re still refusing to admit the other is right as we pull up outside their house but the smile on Viktor’s face has gotten bigger and bigger. He’s such a cute kid, there’s no sign of the toxic woman who gave birth to him.

Val stretches over me getting wipes and then fitting his body through the gap between our seats. I’m a pervert because a man wiping ice cream and chocolate sauce of his son’s face should not be anything but sweet. I want to jump in his lap. Seeing my dopey expression, he smirks and takes out another wipe before brushing it against the corner of my mouth.

“You had a little drool on the corner.”

Asshole.

The back passenger door is yanked open, and Tali has an edge to his voice as he gets Viktor out. “Inessa has made you food, go in before it gets cold.”

His eyes are drilling into the side of Val’s head, and he jumps in the back. Pushing his face between the seats like a psycho, I shove the cone in my mouth, so I have something to do.

He’s brimming with violence and looks between the two of us. “So, what were you two doing together?”

This is what I imagine a disappointed parent is like. All authoritative, asking questions they already know the answers to. Two sets of eyes are fixed on me waiting for anything to come out of my mouth while I shove more into it. Val’s are hopeful but Tali’s are angry.Unhappy with my silence, Tali grabs the end of the cone pulling it out and raises an eyebrow. He’ll be pissed, it was the one thing he always warned me away from saying Val’s dick is cursed.

Val hardens and I want to run away. “Don’t pull things out of her mouth, dickhead.”

It gets worse when Tali fires back without missing a beat, “The problem is what you’re putting in there.”

My skin is on fire. He’s never been disrespectful to me or a prick. Or anything other than Tali, my friend who’s always been there for me. Tears burn the back of my throat at his dickhead opinion.

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